arresting gear.

The wires of the arresting gear had been lifted off the deck so they
could engage the hooks on the undercarriages of the aircraft, but this prevented the
use of the flight deck for any other purpose. The after lift was therefore lowered 9
inches (229 mm), which allowed aircraft to use the area when the lift was raised flush
with the rest of the flight deck. Trials began in April and the lift was widened in
October. Argus joined the Atlantic Fleet in January 1920 for its Spring Cruise
carrying eight Ship Strutters, four Sopwith Camel fighters, two Airco DH.9A bombers
and two Fairey floatplanes. Operational experience confirmed that the aircraft should
attempt to land directly onto the arresting gear lest they be blown over the side of the
carrier, as happened three times during the cruise. [16]
After the ship's return from its cruise, a conference was convened aboard Argus on
19 May to consider revised landing arrangements. It was decided that a longer
system of wires was needed, and the landing well system was abandoned in favour
of ramps that could be raised and lowered as needed. Powered palisades were also
needed on the side of the flight deck to help retain aircraft aboard that had not
engaged a wire. The revised system was successfully tested aboard the
carrier Eagle later in the year and Argus' arresting gear was modified accordingly in
time for the 1921 Spring Cruise, during which the ship carried ten Parnall
Panther spotter and reconnaissance aircraft and three Fairey IIIC reconnaissance
aircraft. In addition, the ship's after lift was permanently locked in the raised position
and 150 long tons (150 t) of ballast were added to compensate for the additional
weight of the equipment high in the ship. This cruise was deemed very successful as
45 landings were made, only two of which resulted in serious accidents, an accident
rate comparable to those of land-based units. The time required to launch two
aircraft and land one aboard was forty minutes during this cruise, primarily because
the rotary engines of the time were very difficult to start. [10]
In September 1922, Argus, equipped with Gloster Nightjar fighters, was deployed to
the Dardanelles as a response to the Chanak crisis. As well as operating her own
aircraft, Argus was used to fly off Bristol Fighters that had been ferried to the
Dardanelles aboard the seaplane carrier Ark Royal to an airfield at Kilia on the
European side of the straits. (The aircraft could not be flown off Ark Royal since it
was a seaplane carrier with no flight deck. The Bristol Fighters were transferred
to Argus by crane).[17]